The papal Twitter account in Latin has attracted more than 100,000 followers in six months, far exceeding expectations. It was launched under the previous pope, Benedict XVI, and continues under the current pontiff, Francis (above).
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The papal Twitter account in Latin has attracted more than 100,000 followers in six months, far exceeding expectations. It was launched under the previous pope, Benedict XVI, and continues under the current pontiff, Francis (above).

Alessandro Bianchi /Reuters /Landov

Against all Vatican expectations, the pope's Twitter account in Latin has gained more than 100,000 followers in six months and continues to grow.

Followers are not exclusively Roman Catholics or Latin scholars, but represent a wide variety of professions and religions from all over the world. Some go so far as to claim that the language of the ancient Romans is perfectly suited to 21st-century social media.

Pope Benedict XVI launched the first papal Twitter account last December in eight languages, including Arabic. Soon, there were millions of followers.

Then letters started pouring in asking why the pope wasn't tweeting in the official language of the Vatican.

When the Latin account was launched in January, Vatican officials didn't expect more than 5,000 Latin nerds, that is, followers. But by May, it had surpassed Polish and was in a tie with German at more than 100,000.

"The surprise is that nerds are in all walks of life — cab drivers from South Africa, homemakers, journalists," says Monsignor Daniel Gallagher, one of the six language experts working in the Vatican's Latin Office.

"Kids 8 years old, up to people who are 88 are also following the conversations and participating in the conversation," he says.

Gallagher says his office gets letters — as well as tweets — from all over the world. Many are from Muslims and atheists who don't necessarily like the Catholic Church but are grateful it's keeping the ancient language alive.

He acknowledges that Twitter can encourage shallow thinking and knee-jerk reactions, but is convinced Latin's economy makes it better suited for tweeting than many other languages.

Monsignor Daniel Gallagher, a Latin expert at the Vatican, says people from all walks of life are following the pope's Twitter feed in Latin.
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"It tends to express thoughts as briefly, as concisely, as precisely as possible," Gallagher says.

If Twitter had existed during Roman antiquity, the person with the most followers likely would have been the satirist Martial, creator of the epigram.

Gallegher says this translates to: "You were making all kinds of promises when you drink at night, you're just a little tipsy and say whatever you want, but in the morning, you don't follow through, so Polio why don't you drink in the morning?"

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